Global Diversity Awareness Month: VMHPAA calls for culturally safe care, inclusive workplaces, and community-led mental health
- Shane Warren
- Oct 1
- 2 min read
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
1 October 2025
This October, the Vocational Mental Health Practitioners Association of Australia (VMHPAA) marks Global Diversity Awareness Month by celebrating the strength that cultural, linguistic, and identity diversity brings to families, communities, and workplaces and by calling for practical steps that make care genuinely inclusive every day of the year.
Diversity isn’t just a value statement; it’s a frontline reality. Practitioners meet people whose experiences are shaped by culture, language, faith, gender, sexuality, disability, neurodiversity, migration, and place (including regional and remote communities). When services are culturally safe and identity-affirming, more people seek help earlier and outcomes improve.
“Diversity is not a box to tick, it’s the context of every human story,” said Shane Warren, Chair of VMHPAA. “Our job as a sector is to make help feel safe, familiar, and respectful. That starts with listening, using the right language, and removing barriers that keep people from care.”
“Vocational practitioners are embedded in the places people live, work, and learn,” added Susan Sandy, VMHPAA Secretary and relationship counsellor. “From neighbourhood centres to workplaces and schools, we can meet people where they are - when services reflect their culture and identity, trust grows and healing begins.”
VMHPAA’s call to action this October
Embed cultural safety in everyday practice: ask, don’t assume; invite family/kinship where appropriate; respect community protocols.
Invest in access, not just awareness: provide interpreters, translated materials, low-cost/sliding-scale options, and after-hours or outreach support.
Strengthen the workforce mix: value peer workers and lived-experience practitioners; recognise vocationally trained counsellors alongside other disciplines.
Make workplaces inclusive: remove bias from recruitment and supervision; create safe channels to report discrimination; support staff ERGs and cultural days.
Measure what matters: track who is (and isn’t) using services; co-design improvements with communities; report progress transparently.
NOTE: VMHPAA acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia and recognises that culturally grounded, community-led models remain essential to social and emotional wellbeing. We also affirm the dignity and rights of LGBTIQA+SB communities, people with disability, migrants, refugees, international students, and all who experience barriers to care.
If your organisation wants to strengthen cultural safety, VMHPAA can connect you with vocational practitioners, supervisors, and practical tools designed for real-world settings.
Media Contact:
Shane Warren, Chair
Susan Sandy, Secretary
Philip Armstrong, CEO
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